Seahawks vet Cooper Kupp calls out Cris Collinsworth, other NFL commentators

Just because you can play the game doesn't necessarily mean that you'd be good at talking about it for a living. Any NFL fan that's spent a Sunday afternoon listening to Jonathan Vilma or Mark Schlereth could tell you that much.

The idea is persistent though - and some fans even think that those who never played in the league have no business analyzing it. This is a profoundly mistaken idea.

Just ask the guy who has the highest football IQ on the Seattle Seahawks roster, veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Earlier this week Kupp spoke with reporters and admitted that when he watches NFL games on TV he has to put the volume on mute.

Here's what he had to say to Cris Collinsworth and other commentators.

Cooper Kupp blasts NFL commentators

Cooper Kupp will watch NFL playoff games with his boys at home on #Seahawks bye. “The color commentators?…I’ve got to mute that thing sometimes: Boys sit down. Let me explain to you what’s really happening here.

“Cris Collinsworth I love you. Let me explain what happened here.” pic.twitter.com/3gbZKlSfC5
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) January 9, 2026

Kupp has a pretty good point - and the number of former players who are awful at talking about the game live proves it. However, for what it's worth Collinsworth is one of the better color analysts in the business today and there are far worse examples that he could have called out.

Just because you start out good at it doesn't mean it will continue, either. A few years ago former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was considered the gold standard for TV analysis. Now most media analysts agree that he's fallen off and is no longer putting in the work that made him so compelling to listen to in the first place.

The highest paid commentator in the game is of course Tom Brady, who's not as bad as some but certainly not worth the massive amount of money that Fox is paying him.

Brady's ascendance is particularly galling because he displaced the guy who was actually the best TV analyst that there is: former Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen.

It's no easy task breaking down a game as complex as football and making it interesting for an average viewer, but Olsen consistently does it better than anybody else. Hopefully one day he'll reclaim his spot at Fox or earn another top slot for a different network, because he deserves it.

Cooper Kupp blasts NFL commentators

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